Witch House

Witch house is an electronic music micro-genre that emerged around 2010, somewhere between underground MySpace forums and the American experimental scene. Combining the lo-fi textures of chillwave, the darkness of dark ambient, shoegaze's synthetic pads and a visual aesthetic drawn from occultism and esoteric symbolism, witch house creates music that is deliberately slow, haunted and disorienting. Artist names littered with special characters and runic symbols are emblematic of its universe.

Musically, witch house is characterised by drastically slowed tempos, voices filtered to the point of abstraction, dense synthesiser drones and heavily warped hip-hop beats. Production is intentionally murky, muffled and almost claustrophobic. Samples, often drawn from pop culture or horror films, are transformed beyond recognition. The atmosphere of witch house is unique in the contemporary electronic landscape.

Canadian duo Purity Ring brought the genre to a wider audience with a sharp sense of melody and striking productions, while retaining the dark and dreamlike aesthetic of witch house. Detroit and Austin trio Salem is frequently cited as one of the genre's founders, with a particularly abrasive sound and a provocative aesthetic.

Witch house finds expression primarily in clubs and underground events, but also at experimental and alternative electronic music festivals. Its strong visual dimension — projections, dim lighting, esoteric symbolism — makes for a total live experience. Witch house festivals bring together a community of devotees fascinated by the sonic margins and nocturnal aesthetics of contemporary electronic music.